Chapter 182 (1/2)

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Chapter 182 – Homesickness in the Indoor Market

Just to be sure, Hikaru reported to the Adventurers Guild that he'd completed his delivery task to the Tower. The guild in Agiapole was far smaller compared to other nations and well-organized. But the receptionists were beautiful women all the same.

Apparently, the Church's temple knights dealt with monsters, so only escort and harvesting jobs were available to adventurers. And since no adventurer would come to a guild with few requests, it became smaller and smaller.

「I've logged your arrival here, Sir Hikaru.」the receptionist said.「But Ponsonia's foreign minister will be the one to verify the completion of the request.」

「Okay.」

「Where are you staying in Agiapole?」

「I haven't checked into a place yet. I heard there's a Grand Hotel here, so I'm thinking of staying there.」

Grand Hotel, a hotel chain with branches all over the continent. First-cla.s.s and huge, the cost of staying was expensive.

「I-I see. What are your plans today?」the receptionist asked, smoothing down her hair.

She realized Hikaru was loaded enough to stay at such a grand place. Even rank D was considered high in this guild.

Lavia and Paula were staring daggers at them from behind. Hikaru gave vague answers, and they left the guild.

Grand Hotel Agiapole had vacant rooms. After checking in, they went out once again…

『Finally, it's my time!』

…because Drake was too persistent. The drakon was annoyed that only he didn't get to eat pancakes at the café.

『Food stands, here we come!』

「Yeah, about that… I don't see any food stand.」

『…What?』

After walking down the streets of this white city, Hikaru noticed it was too organized. Food stands, which always filled the streets of other cities, couldn't be found here. There was nothing wrong with being organized. But too much and it seemed like the place was devoid of life.

『N-No way! My food trip!』

「We didn't come here to eat, you know.」

『Must be nice being you. You had that white, sweet stuff earlier!』

「Ah, that was delicious. I didn't know they had white sugar actually.」

This nation was too obsessed with the color white that they developed a technology to remove impurities from brown sugar to produce white sugar, even using magic. Don't they have anything better to do? But I guess it's just one of those things.

『I wanna eat! I wanna eat! I wanna eat!』

「Hey, keep it down!」

Hikaru covered Drake's mouth who happened to be on Lavia's chest.

「Kyaa?!」

「Ah, my bad—」

They had just stepped out of the hotel. Pa.s.serby's stopped, wondering what was going on.

「L-Let's go.」

They left in a hurry.

After asking around, they found out that there were food stands in this city. Not only that, but also a market. Except they were all indoors.

「Wow… I didn't expect all of them to be indoors.」

Before them was a huge, white warehouse with a high, dome-shaped ceiling. Rather than a warehouse, it was more of a gymnasium, only four times bigger than normal. Its giant doors facing the street were wide open.

High-spirited voices of people doing business rolled from within. Waves of people entered and left, carrying purses and the goods they bought.

「Oh…」

The inside was far warmer than outside from the crowd of people. Various scents hung in the air, mixing together—the aroma of grilled fish, fat, and spices, the smell of old furniture, and the scent of people—which made them dizzy.

The Pope did not allow doing business out on the streets, so the city had to build an indoor marketplace. It looked both like a flea market, and a food stand street. The presence of Beastmen indicated that even foreigners came here. There were thirteen of these places all throughout Agiapole.

Then, Hikaru's nose caught a familiar, sweet aroma. He hadn't smelled it before in this world.

「Don't tell me…」